Improvement in register-dials for water-meters



, J. c. KELLEY. REGISTER-DIAL'S FOR WATER-METERS No. 170,272. PatentedNov. 2a; 1875.

. FIEHI. v7

- STATE/S PATENT Cr mea JOHN KELLEY, OF PEARSALLS, NEW YORK.

I IMPROVEMENT IN REGISTER-DIALSFOR WATER-METERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 170,272, dated November23, 1875; application filed April 15, 1875.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN G. KELLEY, of P'earsalls, in the county ofQueens' and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Water-Meters; and 1 do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and to theletters of reference marked thereon,-which form a part of thisspecification.

Among the most serious difiiculties of water-meters now in use is that.of reading the dial, by reason of its constant liability to be coveredwith mud and sediment, and especially that class of meters in which thedial and the indicating-hands work within a water-space below or back ofa water-tight glass cover. In all such meters hitherto constructed thedial-hands have been placed above or outside of the dial, and the latterhas been formed upon a white ground or porcelain surface. There must,however, be some means for communication between the propelling devicesandthe registering mechanism, and the water will be forced into the dialcompartment, and the dial become more or less covered with the sedimentfrom the water, and rendered thereby more or less difficult to read, andwill, in time, become entirely covered.

This difficulty my invention entirely overcomes; and it consists in thecombination, in a water-meter, of a glass or transparent dial, with theindicating-hands, arranged below or back of the dial, whereby the dialcan always be easily read, no matter how muddy the water may get, as mudcannot settle upagainst the surface of the glass, and if it did it couldnot obscure either the dial upon such inner surface or theindicating-hands back of such surface. I

A plain white background is combined with the glass dial, andbetweenthese the indicating-hands are arranged to work, so that theusual dialsurface is, by my invention, em-

ployed in connection with the glass dial to render the numbers thereonmore distinct, and the positions of the hands more readily determinedwith respect to such numbers.

So important are the advantages of my invention that all stuffing-boxescan be dispensed with, and the movement of the propelling device therebymore accurately communicated to the indicating mechanism, as theexclusion of mud from the dialchamber is, by my invention, renderedimmaterial, and it will be only necessary to arrange the indicatiugmechanism in a compartment so as to.

of'the hai1ds;Fig. 3, a vertical section of so much ofameter asillustrates my invention; and Fig. 4, a view of the glass dial.

The meter may be of an suitable construction, but the one shown in thedrawings is the one known as the gem meter, manufactured by the NationalMeter Company, of New York, and in which a hard-rubber propeller isemployed as the motor, and the indicating-hands a are arranged to workabove the dial in a top water-compartment, b, sealed by a glass cover,0, secured in place by a cap, 61, screwed upon the outer shell of themeter. Suitable gearing connects the stem of the propeller with themechanism of the indicating-hands, and the latter have the usualrelation with a plate, e, which divides the chamber of theindicating-hands from that in which the registering mechanism isarranged. Upon this plate 6 the dial has heretofore been formed, and thehands, therefore,'in front of it, so that when the numbers were coveredwith mini from the water there could be no reading indicated by thehands. I have, to avoid this objection, transferred the dial to aposition in front of the hands, and combined the dial with the glasscover, to obtain a transparent dial, which forms the outer side of thewater-chamber b, Within which the hands work, so that the hands a,standing back of the dial, can always be seen, and the dialnumberseasily read in front of the hands.

In connection with this front glass dial, I employ a plain white plate,6, as a background,

and thus, with the hands interposed between it and the glass dial,render it easy at all times to read the meter.

The dial is placed upon the inner surfaceof the glass cover, and as itis impossible for the mud to collect upon such surface, or to obscurethe positions of the hands in relation to the dial, the state of themeter can be taken at any time desired with entire accuracy.

The glass diaI pIate is made quite thick, and the letters and numbersforming the dial may be made thereon, in any suitable way that willproducethe best effect, and be the most durable. This may be done bycasting the glass dial with the letters and figures sunk in the surface,and filled with some suitable substance; or it may be transferred frompaper, printed from a stone, and then put in a tire and burnt in, whenit becomes part of the glass, as it were, and very permanent. The dialmay be printed by a rubber stamp, and then burnt in.

V It is not in this particular that I claim any special invention, butin the combinationof such a thing with a :liquid meter, to obtain theadvantages statedas resulting from such combination The following isclaimedasinew in watermeters, namely:

1. The combinatiomin a water-meter, of a glass or transparent dial,-c,with the indicating-hands a in positions back of said dial, whereby mudand sediment are prevented from settling upon the dial, and the relativepositions therewith'of the hands thereby easily read, substantially asherein set forth.

2. The combination, with a glass dial, a, of t

